North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney tabled a private member’s bill in the House of Commons on Thursday, May 16, to help recipients of the guaranteed income supplement (GIS) avoid temporary suspension of benefits.
“Tens of thousands of seniors in Canada have their payments suspended in July every year for not submitting their taxes by the deadline. These are people who rely on GIS payments to keep a roof over their head; that’s wrong,” said Blaney in a news release. “Health and other challenges that affect everyone can sometimes prevent seniors from getting their taxes done. Low-income seniors shouldn’t have their GIS benefits suspended for being human.”
Blaney believes low-income seniors should not lose their homes and incomes for being unable to file their taxes on time.
Blaney’s bill C-449 has two main purposes: to give GIS recipients a one-year grace period if they were unable to file their taxes by the deadline, and to require Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) employees to reach out to affected seniors to assist them through the process. The vast majority of GIS recipients who have their benefits suspended get them reinstated a few months later, and the ESDC employees already have to review these files, according to Blaney.
“I’ve heard from people across this country who, because of themselves or their spouse getting sick, are unable to submit their taxes on time,” said Blaney. “When that happens, their GIS payments are suspended, and people have lost their homes, cut their prescription pills in half to make them last longer, or gone hungry until they manage to get through the administrative process to have their payments reinstated. This is an easy solution to a big problem and will go a long way in helping some of the people who need it most.”
